Manchester United legend Dwight Yorke has said that the club should have let their new £47m signing Andre Onana join Premier League rivals Chelsea.
The Red Devils completed a deal with Inter Milan to sign Onana after David de Gea ended his 12-year spell at Old Trafford.
The 27-year-old helped Inter reach last season’s Champions League final, where they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Premier League champions Manchester City.
The Cameroonian’s agent recently revealed that United’s domestic rivals Chelsea and Tottenham expressed interest in signing him before his switch to Old Trafford was confirmed.
Yorke believes his former club should have let Chelsea sign Onana and stuck with De Gea while promoting Dean Henderson, who spent last season on loan at Nottingham Forest.
Despite winning the Golden Glove award last season, De Gea attracted criticism for some high-profile mistakes, though Yorke still believes the Spaniard is ‘better’ than United’s new No. 1 Onana.
‘It’s crazy that Chelsea had Edouard Mendy and Kepa Arrizabalaga and still want another goalkeeper,” Yorke told OLBG.
“But we should’ve let Andre Onana go to Chelsea and Man United should’ve kept David de Gea and promoted Dean Henderson instead.
‘These managers are forgetting the young players, they have to give them a chance.
“If you’re not giving someone who is supposedly England’s next big thing in goal when he is waiting in the wings, when will he be promoted?
“If it was someone like Marcus Rashford and you kept him in the under-23s, how would you know that he would be as great as he is?
“If De Gea is the problem, then we should’ve promoted Henderson. He went and got valuable experience at Nottingham Forest, enough to make him a starter and De Gea would take a more rotated role.
“I won’t sit here and say Onana is 100% better than De Gea. I’ve said before that Man United need to be careful what they wish for with losing David de Gea.
“For all the good De Gea has done for Man United, the way his career ended was really bad. I hope this doesn’t come back to haunt Man United now they’ve bought Andre Onana.
“Be careful what you wish for. De Gea is the Golden Glove winner, a high-profile player who has made mistakes, like the rest of us.
“De Gea winning the Golden Glove is like winning the Golden Boot and being the top scorer at the club but still getting replaced by the football club. That does not resonate well with me.
“In my opinion, Onana is not as good as De Gea and people need to watch him very carefully. I’ve seen Onana before, the Premier League is a different kettle of fish with how fast the game is and how often you are pressured.
“Onana tries to be an outfield player rather than a goalkeeper sometimes. I will be watching this guy very closely, and the people who have criticised De Gea and wanted him to leave will probably be the ones who will be calling him to come back. I’m hoping that doesn’t happen for Man United’s sake.”
